Chibi Maou, Little Devil
by vavvoom
Summary: A skater girl named Kimiko arrives at Tomoeda, and falls in love with Tomoyo! Will Tomoyo-chan give up on her true love and get together with this weirdo? Is Meiling really gay?? And what's the mystery of Naoko's past? Read and Find out! XD
1. Chibi Maou, Chapter 1

ちびまおう- **たなか きみこ：****daichiha!**

chibi maou – **tanaka**** kimiko：****＃１******

********

It was a beautiful spring morning in Tomoeda. Sakura glided quickly down the sidewalk, feeling the little bumps of the pavement under her feet as she skated to school. 'I like these so much…' thought the young girl to herself.  'I can take a little longer to leave, because they make me faster, and it's a lot more fun than walking!' She skated around a corner, and as she expected, there was Tomoyo waiting for her, in her usual place.

"Ohaiyo gazaimasu, Sakura-chan!" exclaimed her best friend, smiling cheerfully.  "Ohayo, Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura slowed down a little so her friend could keep up beside her.  "Hoeee…I just remembered something…Tomoyo-chan,are we having a math test today, or is it tomorrow?"

The dark haired girl looked troubled.  "Ah…it's today, Sakura-chan.."

Sakura sighed.  "I tried to study for it, but there was so much other stuff I didn't have time to finish! I was really hoping it would be tomorrow…Hoee..."

Tomoyo smiled again. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, I'll help you review during lunch.  It's not that hard, anyway."

"Oh, thank you, Tomoyo-chan! You really are the be-"

＊WHAM！＊

Sakura was sent sprawling on the pavement as a large, fast moving object slammed into her from around the corner.  She opened her eyes dazedly.  "Na-nani o?"  A blurry picture of Tomoyo appeared in front of her eyes.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Are you alright?" Sakura nodded her head.  "Hai…just a little bruised. What the…?  What was that??"

She heard a moan coming from the ground near her.

A girl she didn't recognize was sitting up on the pavement, rubbing her head. "*#&)! My head, my freakin' head…Who's the dork who…" The mystery girl stood up.  She had almost shoulder-length brown hair, and was wearing the Tomoeda school uniform. It looked very new (except for the new dirt and a rip in the sleeve).  She stood up and saw Sakura.  "_Whoah__._..Are you the one who just smashed me?  Judging by this lump on my head,I thought it must've been a whale or something.  Sorry, my bad. I was going too fast… racing to school, 'cuz I didn't want to be late on the first day."  The girl extended a hand and helped Sakura onto her feet.

"My name is Tamaka Kimiko, but my friends call me just "Miko".  Well, my friends in Osaka did.  Just moved this week."

Sakura gave an embarrassed smile. "No, no, it was totally my fault… My name is Kinomoto Sakura, pleased to meet you!  Welcome to Tomoeda!"

Tomoyo looked curiously at Kimiko's clothing. "Kimiko-san, you're going to Tomoeda Elementary, right?"

Kimiko turned from Sakura to face the new voice. "Please, call me Miko.  And, yes, I am going…to…" Her voice faded out suddenly.  "Ah…I don't think we've been introduced yet…?"

Sakura panicked. "Hoee! Sumimasen, how rude of me! This is my best friend, Tomoyo-chan!" she said, stepping aside.

Kimiko's expression gradually changed from her hard, tomboyish projection. She looked as if that blow to her head was finally getting to her, not to mention the fact that she was seemingly transfixed with who she was looking at: namely, Tomoyo... "Tomoyo…Tomoyo…what a beautiful name." Suddenly she snapped out of her daze, and began to look very alarmed. Tomoyo saw that Miko was looking at something behind her. "Eeh?"

"Oh no! SUKEBO!" Miko ran over to an old battered skateboard lying upside down behind the other two girls.  She picked it up and cradled it in her arms as if it were a baby.  Sakura could have sworn she heard the girl muttering soothing words to the thing. "My poor Sukebo…he's my most prized possession… my one and only lucky board!  He got scratched!"

Tomoyo and Sakura both sweatdropped.

"She really likes that board, I guess…" whispered Sakura quietly.  Tomoyo just kept smiling, but she also seemed to think the girl was a bit odd.

Miko dusted it off, set it down, and placed a foot onto the back end.  "Well, I guess I better be going… Probably late already.  Hope I'll see ya guys around," she added, looking at Tomoyo.

"Matte!" shouted Sakura, but Miko had already skated off. "We should have told her we were going to the same school…"

Tomoyo watched Miko disappear. "I was about to, but she left before I could say anything…Well, we'll see her in school, anyway!"

And so she and Sakura sauntered off the rest of the way in peace.

All the students in the class were chatting before Terada Sensei came in.  As usual, somebody had spread the rumor that a new kid was coming, and everyone was guessing what she/he would be like. Everyone that is, except Tomoyo and Sakura.

Naoko giggled. "I hope it's a boy who likes scary stories.  Nobody here appreciates mine."

Chiharu and Rika had their own ideas. "I hope he has dark hair!" said Chiharu. "I don't mind if he tells ghost stories, as long as they aren't huge whopping lies!" she added on second thought.

"I hear the new kid is from Osaka." said Rika.  "I love Osaka accents, don't you? They're so cute!" She looked at Sakura.  "What do you think the new kid will be like?"

"Oh! I've already met her, we crashed on the way to school!" she said with a touch of embarrassment.

Chiharu groaned.  "Great, I knew it. Another girl."

"She's really nice!" said Tomoyo. "A bit odd…well, I mean, _interesting_..."

Just then, the door opened, and Terada Sensei came in.  All the students scrambled quickly to their seats. "Ohayo gozaimasu, everyone."

"Terada Sensei Ohayoo!" echoes the young voices in unison.

"As you might have heard, we have a new arrival today from Osaka.  This is Tanaka Kimiko." He nodded to the girl who had been following him.

"Would you please write your name on the board, and tell the class a bit about yourself?"

Miko shifted her backpack strap (which was hanging off one shoulder) and smiled boyishly. "Sure." She turned her back to the class and wrote her name on the board with chalk.  The kanji was not very neat, but it was still almost legible. She paused after she had finished, and held the chalk over the board moment.  Then she continued writing in large (and messy) English letters: "SPIT".  Next to that, she drew a little Jesus fish with an "x" for an eye.

Then she walked back and faced the class again. "My name is Tanaka Kimiko.  I come from Osaka.  That…" she pointed to the words and the picture under her name- "is the name of my band, 'SPIT'. Luckily, a few of the members moved her a while ago, and we're thinking of restarting our group here in Tomoeda. I also like skateboarding.  And that's about all there is to know bout me."

Naoko raised her hand. "Yeah, the one with the glasses?" said Miko, gesturing to her.

"Ah…what is "spittu"?" she asked.

Miko laughed. "It's when you go like this…" she was about to demonstrate on the newly cleaned classroom floor, but the teacher stopped her just in time.

"Well, I think that's a good enough introduction.  You can sit over there in the back.  They very, very, back." She shrugged and walked to the back of the room.  She stopped at an empty seat behind Tomoyo.

"Hey…You guys go here too?! Wow, that's cool…Okay if I sit here?"

Tomoyo looked up and smiled. "Of course!" Miko moved in and put her bag on the floor next to the desk. "Hmmm…" she took out a piece of paper and a pen. Tomoyo turned around again and paid attention to the lesson.

About an hour later, Sakura looked behind her at the new girl.  Miko-chan, do you need help with our math lesson? Tomoyo explained it to me, but I bet you don't know it yet since you're new here..."   
  
Miko looked up from her paper. "Eh? What about the math lesson?" Sakura was confused. "The math problems we've been doing in class for the last twenty minutes..."

"Oh… I was drawing." she replied.  "I can do it later."

Sakura was…stunned. "You… you didn't do anything at all??"

The other girl shrugged. "Naw. Too boring. Besides, skaters and drummers don't need math."

The teacher saw them chatting and came over.  "Is there a problem?" he asked.  Miko shook her head. "No, I was just finishing up my sheet.  I asked Sakura to help me double-check something."

The teacher looked at her paper covered with scribbles.  "That doesn't look like math, young lady." He started to pick it up but Miko covered it with her arm. "It's not done yet!"

Terada Sensei got impatient. "Let me just check to see if you're doing it correctly." He reached for it again.

Some of the kids in the class turned around and watched.

"I did do it right.  It's almost finished, just gimme 5 minutes!" She covered the paper with her arms and hunched over it. The teacher sighed and went back to his desk. Several students gave the new kid a strange look. Rika looked at Terada Sensei and sighed sympathetically.  "Kids these days…" she muttered.


	2. Chibi Maou, Chapter 2

ちびまおう - **たなか きみこ****：****daniha!**

chibi maou – **tanaka**** kimiko:****＃****2**

The school bells chimed to signify lunchtime.  The children sighed in relief and took their lunches from their bags. Miko shuffled through her hers, looking increasingly annoyed by the second.  Finally, she gave up and tossed her backpack back on the floor. "Not.  Again." She put her head down on her desk.

Sakura and Tomoyo gave her a questioning look. "What's the matter, Miko?" asked Tomoyo politely. Miko sat up. "I have an Onii-san, Kitoshi-san. He makes my lunch for me, because I'm not allowed to go in the kitchen since last October.  Anyway, Onii-san made my lunch, but as usual, my LITTLE brother, Niko, stole it!" She rolled her eyes and banged her head on the desk. Her muffled voice went on. "He could have just taken the dessert, but noooo... little pig had to take it all.  Lardball."

"Hoe? Why can't you make your own lunch?  Is your kitchen dangerous?" asked Sakura. Miko snickered, and pulled herself up again, looking Sakura right in the eye.  "When I'M in it, it is!" she laughed. "Last October, my school had a science fair, and since I knew I couldn't get one of the top prizes like 'Best Scientific Method' or something nerdy like that, I decided to go for 'Best Presentation' and 'Most Original Idea."

Tomoyo nodded. "That's good. What was your project?" Miko placed her hand on her chin thoughtfully. "I think the title was, 'What is the Best Temperature for Exploding Plastic Soldiers in a Microwave?'"

Sakura and Tomoyo looked at each other with wide eyes, then turned back to Miko with the same expression. Naoko, Rika, and Chiharu also heard the last sentence, and walked over to listen.

"I was so sure I could win with that. And it would be killing two birds with one stone! I could win the science fair, AND get back at my dumb brother for throwing my CD player out the window.  He really likes his plastic soldiers, you see." she added, making a face.  "And I would have the coolest presentation, I could make a poster with all these pieces of melted soldiers glued all over it! And my idea was so original, it was practically guaranteed I would win!" she said, clasping her hands together.

"Sounds reasonable to me." nodded Chiharu.

Sakura stuttered. "B-but, um..." 

Miko didn't seem to notice her. "But then it all went wrong... or should I say, it all went too well!  Turns out, that almost ANY temperature is good enough to explode army men, as long as you leave them in for about 10 seconds.  And I put in the whole box, because I was afraid my little brother would find me before they were all melted."

Tomoyo was making a very uncharacteristic wide-eyed expression. "And...what...what happened then??" 

Miko grinned.  "Well, since I had to be next to the experiment and record all that scientific data stuff, I had my face pressed against the oven to see how they would melt.  At first it was really cool, they started to bubble and then kind of crumple and shrink and ooze around the bottom of the microwave..." she paused and reflected back on the cool-ness. "I wish I had made a video of it..."

Once again Sakura and Tomoyo gave each other a sideways glance.

"And then, all of a sudden, I heard this huge crackle like a lightning bolt, and the microwave just blew up in my face! My hair caught on fire! I woke up in the hospital a week later.  It was so cool! I had this bandage on one side of my head, and since I had a weird bald spot, my Dad let me get a really cool haircut!  I looked like Rei Ayanami the cancer patient!"

"Wow!" exclaimed Naoko.  "Did you hear any voices while you were unconscious? Did you see a white light?" Miko shook her head. 

"No...that was when I fell off the 10 foot ramp at the Skate competition. The voices told me to wear a helmet next time. I mean, I had to get so many stitches on my forehead, I looked like Frankenstein."

Tomoyo's white skin looked paler than ever. "Oh...my..." She gave her best friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Sakura looked a little green.

Miko shrugged. "Too bad I didn't get any scars from it.  It would have looked kind of cool."

Sakura looked uneasily at her lunch. "Um...You can have my lunch if you want Miko, I'm not really hungry."

"Really!? Wow, you're so great! Thanks!" All the other girls quickly donated their lunches as well.

Miko was amazed. "Wow, I never knew people in Tomoeda were so generous! Or are you all anorexic?"

Naoko wanted to hear another story, but Rika reminded her that the bell was about to ring soon anyway, so there was no time.  

Sakura was in a genki mood again, because they had P.E. next, her favorite class. She and Tomoyo walked outside together with Miko. "It's a nice day." sighed Tomoyo, looking at the cherry blossom trees above them.

"Yeah, beautiful." said Miko, looking at Tomoyo with a smile. "I like how you braided your hair, Tomoyo-chan, it really suits you." Miko reached out a hand and stroked her hair. Tomoyo blushed a little. "Ah, thank you, I'm glad you like it." Sakura gave Miko a quizzical look.

"Miko-chan…Where in do you live? Do you live near to the school?" asked Sakura. The other girl seemed to notice Sakura for the first time. "Oh, yeah, about four blocks.  I go pretty fast on my board.  The sidewalks here are a lot cleaner and smoother than where I used to live.  Then again, a dirt road would have been cleaner and smoother than where I used to live…" 

They arrived at the field, where the rest of the class was gathering for the lesson. The teacher cleared his throat. 

"Alright kids, today we're starting on soccer.  Please get into groups of two and get a ball.  Practice kicking back and forth." He blew his whistle and the children scattered to grab their preferred partners and get the best balls.

Sakura and Miko both grabbed Tomoyo's arms at the same time.

Miko made a growling noise. "Meep!" said Sakura. Tomoyo grew several large sweatdrops. "Um…Let me go with Sakura-chan on this exercise, Miko…I'll do the next one with you, ok?" said Tomoyo.

Miko let go, crestfallen. She looked up as some shouts from across the field floated to her ears.

"Shaoraaaaaaaaan!! What's the matter with you!! I want to be your partner! Why are you so SHY all the time!!" wailed Meilin. She was dragging Shaoran away from another boy by his leg. 

"Let….go…of…me…" Shaoran gasped. Meiling tugged his foot one more time and his shoe flew off, sending her sprawling backwards head over heels.  She landed on her bum in the grass. As soon as he saw his chance, Shaoran sprinted away. "Ooooooooooohhh!!!!" growled Meilin. She grabbed handfuls of grass from around her and threw them in the air.  "Someday, you'll stop denying!"

Miko jogged over to her. "That flip was wicked!! Uh, I meant…are you ok-?" She got a mouthful of grass and gagged. Meiling stood up and noticed her.  "Oh, oops…I didn't mean to throw grass all over you.  You're the new kid, Miko, right?" 

Miko gagged and nodded, pulling bits of grass out of her mouth. "Ptu! Gah… Yes, I'm Miko.  And who are you?"

"I'm Meilin. Hey, wanna be my partner?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." They both off ran to get a ball.


	3. Chibi Maou, Chapter 3

ちびまおう - **たなか きみこ****：****dasanha!**

chibi maou – **tanaka kimiko:****＃****3**

****

Miko and Meiling jogged over to the metal cart which had all the remaining balls.  Miko looked in the cart, and took out a ball.  "This thing is totally deflated!" she announced, throwing it on the ground to prove her point.  Instead of bouncing, it crumpled to the ground and stayed there. She leaned into the cart and took out the only other balls.  "And these are even worse! Look, this one has a huge rip in it! What do you guys DO to these anyway??"

Takashi, who was practicing nearby with another boy, overheard her.  "Well, a few weeks before you came, we were playing a really brutal game called 'Butcher Ball' in PE, it was the unit before soccer. It's just like soccer, only you use different shoes, which have huge razors on them.  So while we were learning, we often popped those old balls.  But since a lot of kids weren't able to run well with the razors, we switched to a different sport."  

Chiharu sent a well-aimed ball flying at his head. "Ok, that's lie # 7 today! Remember, 12 strikes and you're out!"  His smile never faltered. He continued practicing with his partner.

Miko stood there, holding the floppy ball and looking extremely confused.  "Man, this school is so cool..." she muttered.  Meiling looked impatient.  "Well, come on! Are we going to play or not!?"  She was answered by getting three deflated balls tossed at her.

Meiling tossed them back, but Miko ducked.  Tomoyo, who was behind her, was pelted with deflated balls.  "Waah!" she cried, covering her head.  Miko turned around, and ran over to her. Sakura did too.  "Tomoyo-chan! Are you ok!?"

"I am so sorry! Meiling-chan is just so bad at throwing! Hey, she wasn't even supposed to be, we were playing soccer!" Miko looked up and gave Meiling a really serious look. "You should apologize to Tomoyo-chan!"  Meiling huffed. 

"What! You started it!  You threw them at me!  It's not my fault...."

      "You're just trying to pin them blame on other people!  Take responsibility for yourself!"

Tomoyo tapped Miko on the shoulder. Miko jumped a foot. "Gah!"

The dark haired girl smiled at Miko.  "It's all right, no need for an apology... I'm perfectly fine!"  

Miko smiled too. "I'm glad you're ok.  We haven't known each other long, but..." she wrapped Tomoyo up in a tight hug,"...you're still my friend and I'd be so sad if you got hurt. " 

Sakura and Meiling looked gave Miko and Tomoyo a weird look.  

Tomoyo was a bit embarrassed.  "Er...That's great, Miko-chan! It's always nice to make new friends..."

Miko closed her eyes slowly.  She smelled Tomoyo's hair.  "Mmm...your hair smells sooooo nice today!"

The other girls all sweatdropped.  "Er..." said Sakura.

"All right, that's enough hugging over there, girls!" shouted the teacher, looking at them. "We're starting two games, so split into four teams!  Shaoran and Meiling are the team captains of this half!" he blew his whistle again.

After the teacher had divided the class in half, Shaoran and Meiling stood apart form the other kids and started choosing teams..

Shaoran chose Sakura. Sakura walked over and stood behind him. "Pssst!" she whispered to him. "Please, will you pick Tomoyo too?"  

Shaoran scrunched his nose. "She can't play well enough." Sakura made a sad puppy face. Her lower lip trembled. "Awwwwwww!! You're...really...mean!" she cried, covering her face.  He waved his hands in frustration. "All right, all right!! She can be on our team! Don't have a cow!" Sakura perked up immediately. "YATTA!"

Shaoran sighed. "Ok, Tomoyo..." Tomoyo walked next to Sakura. "Hai!"

Meiling picked Chiharu, and of course Chiharu made her pick Takashi. Shaoran picked Rei, then Naoko.  Meiling picked Rika, and Miko was the only person left. "Oh no, not you." moaned Meiling.  Miko made a face at her.  "I count as a whole team by myself." she boasted.  She looked at Naoko on the other team.  Naoko smiled nervously at her.  

"I sure hope you aren't the goalie, or else my shots might just smash all four of your eyes." taunted Miko with a grin.  Naoko gulped. "Just kiddin', just kiddin.  You know that, right?" asked Miko, slapping the other girl on the back.  

Naoko stumbled, coughed, and re-adjusted her glasses on her nose.  "H-hai..."

The game commenced.  There was a bit of a squabble between Miko and her team. They wanted her to be goalie, so she had the smallest chance of hurting people.  She wanted to be on offense.  Finally, she agreed to be a goalie, but only until the next goal for either team.

The game began! Meiling passed the ball to Takashi, who was able to outrun Shaoran and Sakura on offense, but Rei was defending the goal well.  Tomoyo wasn't much good at getting the ball, but she did get in his way, which was very effective.  Naoko was hunched over in the goal, looking nervously at Takashi, but he was unable to shoot with Tomoyo and Rei both trying to take the ball.  

Meiling shouted that she was open, and he passed to her.  But Rei intercepted the ball, and gave it a powerful kick to the middle of the field to Shaoran.

Miko screamed from the goal. "No you fools! Run!! Get the ball away from him!! GO!!" she shouted, jumping up and down. Rika, who was standing near her on defense, covered her ears.  Shaoran and Sakura passed to each other and were able to get past Takashi, Chiharu, and Rika easily. Shaoran aimed for the goal...

"NOT SO FAST, SHAORAAAAAN!!" yelled Meiling as she slid into Shaoran and booted the ball high into the air. "Sorry, Shaoran..." she said. "This grass is all slippery."

Miko grabbed her face with her hands. "What was that!? I can hardly see the ball! Where did it go??"  She saw a small black dot in the sky.  It grew faster and faster until she could make out the black spots on it.  She ran out to the middle of the field and hit it squarely on her forehead, and went forward with it.

"MIKO-CHAN!! Where are you GOING! You're the GOALIE!!" shouted Rika.

Miko didn't pay any attention to her.  Shaoran and Sakura tried to run after her, but she faked them out and arrived at the goal.  Rei and Naoko defended came forward and kicked the ball from her.  Miko ran back, stopped the ball, then placed one foot on either side of it.  She stood there until Rei and Naoko were very close, then she jumped up with her feet still together, flipping the ball up and over their heads.  She ran past them, and had a clear shot to the goal!

"Prepare for a soccer ball-shaped hole in your head, sucker!" she shouted and swung her leg back to kick.  She suddenly froze in that position.  "T-Tomoyo-chan!?

Tomoyo waved at her from the goal and smiled as she waited for the flying missile of death.  

Miko blinked.

A few seconds went by.  

She couldn't bring herself to make a goal against Tomoyo.

"I told you it would work!" said Sakura. Shaoran nabbed the ball from the still frozen Miko and kicked it to Sakura.  Sakura ran to the middle field and was stopped by Meiling.  She booted a perfect curve ball to the goal, where it swished into the empty net.  Chiharu groaned.  "Miko-chan!! SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE GOALIE ISN'T IN THE GOAL!?"

Miko hung her head and rang back to her post as goalkeeper.  "I would have got it in.  I would have!" 

Meiling scowled at her.  "Nice going, Miko-chan no baka!" Miko picked up the ball and held it above her head. She looked around to see who was open, then threw it to Chiharu.  "No not at me!" squeaked Chiharu.  "I don't know how to play soccer!!"

Chiharu kicked the ball in a random direction, and it landed in front of Shaoran. He smirked and ran towards Miko in the goal.  She gritted her teeth and got ready to block. He punted it powerfully to the center of the goal.  Miko caught it with her hands in front of her, but the force of the kick made her topple backwards into the net.  Shaoran looked mildly surprised.

"That counts!" yelled Rei.  "It does NOT!" retorted Meiling. She gave Miko a worried look.

Miko stood up, holding her stomach. "That was a cheap trick! That's cheating!" she wheezed.

"Are you ok?" asked Takashi. 

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied. "But I don't wanna play anymore." She walked off, still holding her middle. The kids on the other team were worried about her too. Tomoyo, Sakura, and Naoko caught up with her.

"Do you want me to show you to the nurses' office?" asked Sakura with concern. The other two girls nodded.  Miko hesitated, then nodded.  "Ok…ok.  Let's go." 

She, Tomoyo, and Sakura headed of the nurse. Naoko wrung her hands in apprehension as she watched them leave. 

The kids went back playing soccer. Chiharu went and sat out so that the teams would be even.  She was quite content to watch her boyfriend play without having to be in the middle of the action herself.


	4. Chibi Maou, Chapter 4

ちびまおう - **たなか きみこ****：****dayonha!**

chibi maou – **tanaka kimiko:****＃****4**

****

      Sakura and Tomoyo asked Miko several times on the way to the nurse if she wanted to lean on them or at least get some help going up the stairs, but she gritted her teeth and said everything was totally fine.  They finally arrived at the office, gave the nurse a brief explanation of what had happened, and watched with apprehension as the nurse directed Miko to a cot.

"You two are excused." said the nurse tersely.  "Please go back to your lesson while I see what's wrong with your friend.  You can may visit her at lunchtime." And with that, Tomoyo and Sakura were shooed out the door. Miko watched them go.  The moment the door closed behind them, she stopped holding back and her face contorted into an expression of agony.  The nurse became worried and called over another colleague of hers to have a look.

Later that afternoon, Tomoyo, Sakura, and…well, the usual clique were sitting outside eating their packed lunches on the grass. Miko had been almost forgotten, and conversation had turned from her to more entertaining subjects, such as scaring Sakura with ghost stories.  Tomoyo sighed inwardly to herself.  She knew Naoko had to be getting some secret pleasure from scaring the poor girl out of her wits.

"And then, when the boys went up the stairs…."

Sakura covered her ears. "Don't say anything! I don't want to know!!"

"They saw the girl, still looking out the window…BUT HER BOTTOM HALF WAS GONE!!" finished Naoko with a flair.

"Aaaaah!!" shrieked every girl but Tomoyo in unison.

Tomoyo desperately tried to change the subject, but the other girls were far too interested in this new story and would not hear of it.  Sakura squeezed Tomoyo's hand until her knuckles turned white, but the darker-haired girl still a strained smile on her face. "I have an idea!" she exclaimed at last.  "Why don't we go see how Kimiko-chan is doing?"

The other girls immediately agreed.  They went off to put their lunch things away, and then go to visit the new girl.

Kimiko's head felt heavy and she had a pounding, throbbing ache in her temple.  She had spent the last 15 minute watching the clock on the wall, listening to the ticks and trying to make up little games to play in her head during this horrible solitary confinement.  Eventually the ticking seemed to penetrate through her eyes and ears and into her mind, and now it was causing the sharp stabs of pain in her brain.

"Kimiko-chan!"

Her eyes snapped open, but she could only see a dark blur looking down at her as she lay on the cot.

"Oh, Tomoy- Ne?? Who're you?  Oh, it's the nerd-girl.  Wuzzup." she responded with just a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Naoko blushed with embarrassment at the appellation.  "Er.  My name is Naoko.  The others are coming in a moment, they just have to...um…  Are you feeling any better?"

Miko nodded.  "Yeah, it was nothing.  They thought I broke a rib, but fortunately I only bruised half of them." she replied sarcastically.  

Rika, Chiharu, Sakura, and you-know-who arrived.  Miko shuddered when she saw Tomoyo come in, and immediately tried to sit up in the cot.  Rika tried to help her but Miko made a sound that sounded like some kind of snarling animal, and Rika backed off in a hurry. Miko sat up slowly, carefully controlling her face so that the girls wouldn't see her wince.

"Well.  I see I've suddenly become really popular.  Or is it a school tradition to have a little ceremony like this for people after that Chinese boy breaks their ribs in?" she joked.  

Sakura sweatdropped.

"I'm..I'm sure Li-kun would come and apologize, um…He's just a little… well…" she stuttered, as she tried hopelessly to formulate an excuse for him. Tomoyo piped up in his defense. "He's a very shy boy, that's all.  I assure you, he's very sorry and hopes you get well soon.  We all do!"  The other girls nodded and agreed quickly. 

"Will you be ok now?  Can you come back to class?" asked Chiharu. "What happened anyway?  It's only a bruise, right?"

Miko jumped excitedly at the chance to tell a story, but the sharp pains in her chest reminded her to sit still.

"Well, you see, after he kicked me, the ball partly hit the top of my stomach and the bottom of my ribs.  They had me all bandaged up, 'cause five of my ribs are cracked, and one of them snapped all the way in HALF!  It's like, floating around in my lungs somewhere!!"

The girls gasped in horror, and Sakura passed out on the floor.  Tomoyo swooped down on her and fanned her face.  

"Sakura-chan!! Sakura-chan!!"

Sakura moaned unintelligible words."

"B-but…before!  You…you s-said…" Naoko stuttered to Miko.

Miko didn't notice her at all, and instead desperately tried to regain Tomoyo's attention. "And that's not all!  Look, they operated on me and now I have this huge scar!!" she pulled up her shirt to show everybody.  They all turned away with shrieks.

The bed-ridden girl was confused.  "What?? They bandaged me all up.  Of course you can't see it." she laughed loudly, but laughing hurt so she settled for a mischievous grin. From her bellybutton to the beginning of her arms, she was totally bandaged. The girls around her sighed heavily in relief and embarrassment.  Naoko's glasses were steamy and her expression was unreadable.  Miko glanced at her nervously. "Why's your face all red Four-eyes? You're not mad at me, are ya?" She looked back at Tomoyo, who was now trying to get a nurse to look at Sakura.  Sakura's eyes fluttered open and her eyes met with Kimiko. She made a sound like a mouse being stepped on. "T-Tomoyo-chan!! K-keep me away from…from…"

"All right, I'm sorry.  I admit I was stretching the truth a bit.  My ribs are only a little bruised.  I got bandaged only because I told the nurse it would make me feel better."  Sakura seemed to recover after hearing that, but she still kept her distance from the cot, hiding partially behind Tomoyo.

The nurse Tomoyo had called for Sakura came and was horror-struck to see 5 girls all crammed into the same tiny sick room to visit Miko.  "All of you OUT now!!" she screeched.  "The patient has no fresh air!!  You want to KILL the poor darling?? Come on, all of you, scoot!!" and Miko's classmates scurried out like frightened rabbits from the wrath of the starchy-white authority.

When they had all cleared out, the nurse spun on her heel and glared at Miko.  Miko gulped nervously.

"And YOU young lady! Sitting up like that!  Honestly, do you WANT to catch a cold!! You even left the WINDOW open, for heaven's sakes!!" she snapped as she tucked Miko in a bit _too_ tightly, as to prevent her from escaping.

"T-too tight…!"

"That will teach you.  I do declare, the children in this school go off getting themselves beaten to pulps and then open up windows to let in all the pollen and germs and OOH BACTERIA!!!!" she cried on the verge of hysterics. 

"Now you will stay in YOUR COT with NO VISITORS until school is out and I don't have responsibility for you anymore, do you understand??"

Miko choked. "Yes…Tyrant."

The nurse sniffed.  "Children these days.  So clumsy and reckless.  And totally DISRESPECTFUL."


	5. Chibi Maou, Chapter 5

ちびまおう - **たなか きみこ****：****dagoha!**

chibi maou – **tanaka kimiko:****＃****5**

****

      Two days later, Kimiko was back in class and as disruptive as ever.  The students were glad for it, but Terada-sensei was at a total loss.

"Tanaka! I've had enough!  Will you DESSIST!" he cried, as he swiped the pile of rubber bands she had been shooting at various people off her desk.  "You never do any work, you disturb your classmates, and you don't even seem to feel guilty about nearly giving Kinomoto a _heart-attack_ with that lizard this morning!  What do you have to say for yourself?" the teacher demanded.  Everybody stopped their work to listen.

Miko looked down at her desk and blinked.  "Well…You see, school is kind of a waste of time.  I already have a job, so I don't need to throw away my time here when I could be out getting paid and supporting my family." The student gasped! Having a job at that age was _illegal_!

She gave him a dazzling smile. "But if you want, I'll try to stop annoying everybody else.  I'll just sit here and mind my own business.  Can I bring my minidisk player tomorrow?" 

Terada-sensei gave her a hard stare. "Absolutely not! And what's this nonsense about having a job?  Of course school is a waste of time if you sit here annoying people all day!  Young lady, you'd better start applying yourself or I'll have to contact your parents. Then we'll see what they think of this behavior." he threatened.

Miko shrugged and gave a long sigh, as if Terada-sensei were a small buzzing insect that was pestering her. "Fine, I'm sorry, ok?  I apologize. Sorry for 'disrupting you, _minna_.  I guess I'll just sit here and _apply_ myself to this little math problem now."

At last Terada-sensei was satisfied, and walked back to his desk.  He put the rubber bands in the same drawer he put everything he confiscated from Miko…the one filled with tacks, a few spinning tops, crumpled origami animals, several bottles of glue, snacks, a straw (which she had used as a spitball launcher) and the cute little green lizard. (He had put it in a jar with holes for until he would release it after class.)  The rest of the school day passed relatively free of interruption.  Except for when Miko started making talking aloud to her skateboard in the last 5 minutes of class.

Tomoyo walked in between her love and her love's rival after school; Miko on her "Sukebo" on her left, and Sakura skating on her right. Meiling was also with them, walking alongside the skateboard.  She shook her head, her long black hair swishing from side to side. "Miko, you are so weird." she began. "Why can't you just do what the teacher says?  Even if you hate him, that's no reason to act like a 3 year old during class.  I mean, I'll admit sometimes it's pretty funny, but…"

"Oh, it's not that," interrupted Miko.  "I like our teach'. The dude is smart.  He's cool.  It's just, I dunno… being stuck in that ONE ROOM! For so many hours!  I just want to jump out the window after a while, you know?"

Tomoyo gave Miko an uncharacteristically funny look. "Well, please don't jump out of any windows anytime soon, Kimiko-chan." she said with a compulsory smile.  Miko was exhilarated! Tomoyo cared about her!  An uncontrollable grin spread across her face.

"I would jump out of 500 windows just to walk alongside you like this, Tomoyo-chan…" Miko sighed dreamily.   Tomoyo blushed slightly, not quite knowing what to say.  

Sakura looked at Miko.  Then she looked at Tomoyo.  Then she looked back at Miko again.

Meiling rolled her eyes.  "I swear… Anyway, you should at least pretend to be doing your work.  If you keep acting up, you might get expelled or something.  Hey, by the way…" she started, poking Miko.  "Hey, are you even listening to me??" 

Miko reluctantly turned her gaze from Tomoyo's lovely visage.  "Huh? Wha…?" she asked.

"Oh never _mind._" muttered Meiling irritably. "Well, I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out a while before going home.  I've already finished my homework, and since you probably aren't planning to do yours…"

Miko thought a moment.  "I'll go if Tomoyo-chan wants to go."  But Tomoyo said she and Sakura couldn't, because they were both going to her house, and her mother was expecting them. 

"…And when I'm late, my mom always gets really worried and calls the bodyguards. I'm sorry, maybe some other time." she apologized.  The skater girl was heartbroken, but in the end she agreed to go to the arcade with Meiling anyway.

Later at the arcade, Meiling tried to cheer up her friend.  "Come on, one more round of air hockey!  I'll be easy on you!"  But Miko had other things on her mind.  "What's the point?  It's a waste of time and money.  I just wanna go home." she sighed, as she leaned heavily against a game machine and sipping a soda.  Meiling didn't give up, though.  "Come on, do you think this is as boring as school?  You say the same things about everything!  Tell me what's wrong."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You're just mad because Tomoyo didn't come."

"So what if I am?" snapped Miko.  "I mean… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at ya… But you know how it is…"

The Chinese girl looked confused.  "How _what_ is?  Oh you mean how it is to be totally dopey like you? Can't say I do." She snickered, dodging a playful punch aimed at her head.  Kimiko let out a nervous laugh.  "No…Meiling, haven't you ever really, really liked somebody…but they didn't like you back?"

Meiling stopped laughing.  She took a deep breath and replied quietly. "Yes.  I'm starting to think everybody does." She leaned on the game machine alongside Miko. They both watched a overweight teenage boy play a fighting game across the room. He made a lot of loud grunts and battle cries, before finally yelling "YATTAAAAAA!!" with his pudgy fists pumping in the air.  After his short victory, he continued onto the next level and started it all over again.

Miko broke the silence. "It's that snotty Chinese boy, isn't it?  He's the one you like."

"He's NOT snotty!!  He's really handsome and quiet and smart and cute and totally perfect! How DARE you call him snotty!!" she growled, pinning the other girl against the wall.  The skater girl chuckled.  "Well, if he was such a gentleman he could have apologized for that assassination attempt two days ago." Meiling sighed and released her friend.  "I guess he is a bit…well, maybe a tiny little bit…"

"Insensitive?"

"NO!!"

"Alright, I guess I don't know him very well.  You obviously have known him much longer than me."

Meiling scoffed. "Of course I have! He's my COUSIN!  I've know him for ever and ever!" she noticed Miko's disgusted expression.  "What??  What's your problem now??"

"OH EW! Incest!" teased Miko, carefully avoiding being flattened against the wall again.

Meiling's face reddened.  "That's nothing!! Tomoyo loves Sakura and _they__'__re_ both c-…Oh. I mean… Oops." groaned Meiling, slapping herself on the forehead. "Don't tell anybody, ok?  It's pretty obvious, but I still promised Tomoyo not to tell…"

Miko's jaw was hanging so low; it could have scraped the ground. "Tomoyo…WHAT?  They're just best…NO!  I refuse to believe it.  You're just saying that to spread a rumor or something.  Really, what a bunch of…of… garbage." She started to walk out of the arcade.

"It's true though!  I wouldn't ever spread lies about Tomoyo.  She's a good friend of mine.  Don't tell anybody!"

Miko spun around. "WHAT kind of good friend are you if you go around spilling the beans about everybody?  You're not to be trusted!"

Meiling smiled an embarrassed smile and pulled her hand behind her head.  "Well, it just slipped out… I know you're a cool person, you wouldn't want to do anything to hurt Tomoyo anyway!  And I'm _not_ a dishonest person! Tomoyo really _is_ a good friend of mine.  I don't think she's weird, but probably other people would...  Well, they already do, but it's a nice kind of weird…" The wheels in Kimiko's head were spinning madly. 

"Meiling… would you mind doing me a little favor?  I have a plan, but I'll need your help for it to work…"


	6. Chibi Maou, Chapter 6

ちびまおう- **たなか きみこ****：****darokuha!**

chibi maou – **tanaka**** kimiko:****＃****6**

********

      "WHAT!?" shrieked the Chinese girl.

"Shhhhhh!! You want the whole school ta hear!?" hissed Miko.  The two girls were outside the door to the classroom the next sunny morning.  The lazy morning still twinkled beams of orange and yellow in the clouds, but the sky was slowly clearing into a brilliant blue.

Miko repeated herself. "You heard what I said.  I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend, and then Tomoyo will get jealous, and fall in love with ME!" 

Meiling shook her head furiously.  

"No, no and NO! It would never work, and I am not about to _embarrass_ myself like that!  What makes you think Tomoyo would get jealous anyway?  She likes SAKURA, not YOU.  Just accept it, ok?"  

Miko made a hurt face.  "You wouldn't have to do it for long.  I mean, just until she starts to change her mind.  Please, it WILL work.  I swear it will.  I'll do anything…Please please please… I take back everything I said about Shaoran being snotty and you being dishonest and everything.  Pretty please with wasabe on top!" she begged, gripping Meiling's sleeves tightly in her fists.

"Oh stop!  You're freaking me out!" cried Meiling, pulling out of Miko's grasp.  

"I'll give you free tickets to my bands concerts forever!"

"NO!!"

"I'll let you come to all my skate competitions for free!!"

"NO!! Besides, Shaoran will NEVER like me if he thinks I'm… you know…"

"Gay?"

"Er. Exactly.  Now excuse me, I'm gonna be late." Meiling tried to enter the room but Miko blocked her again.

"But Meiling…Don't you know, guys are obsessed with lesbians! They love 'em!  I mean, being gay is really hip nowadays!"

"I SAID N-…Really!?"

"Yes, of course!  Guys go totally nuts over girls who like girls!" exclaimed Miko with a huge grin. 

Meiling actually considered for a moment.  "Well," she said finally, "I'll think about it."

The two entered the room and sat down in their seats.  All the students were already inside, but the Terada-sensei hadn't arrived yet. "_Ohayo_ Kimiko-chan, Meiling-chan." greeted Sakura warily. "Ohayo." replied Miko, looking at Tomoyo expectantly.

"_Ohayo gozaimasu_, Kimiko-chan." said Tomoyo with a smile as Miko slid into the seat next to hers.

"Oh, hello, Tomoyo-chan. I didn't notice you right away." Miko lied, trying her hardest to be casually reserved.  Tomoyo was somewhat surprised by that reply, but shrugged it off.  Miko was a pretty strange person, after all.  

'Even compared to me,' thought Tomoyo with a smile, laughing inwardly.

At lunchtime Miko arranged it so that she sat between Tomoyo and Meiling.  Rika, Chiharu, and Naoko were sitting nearby, chatting amongst themselves.  Takashi was telling more ridiculous lies and Chiharu was getting overly excited again.  This was normal. However, Naoko, who usually listened intently and bought everything he said, seemed distracted.  She didn't seem hungry either.

Meiling opened a Tupperware, which contained some kind of Chinese buns.  "I love making these.  They're actually really easy once you get the hang of it." she said proudly, showing them to the people sitting around her.  

"They're so kawaii!" giggled Sakura.  "Aren't they?  All poofy!  Voosh!" she made a hand motion to emphasize the whooshy-ness.  Tomoyo nodded in agreement, but did not dare to speak with her mouth full.

"Of course they are.  Because the cutest person on earth made them!" exclaimed Miko loudly. Meiling started to choke. 

Tomoyo quickly handed Meiling her bow of juice.

"Arigato, Tomoyo… Er… Well, you know Miko-chan, I made these _especially_ for you." Said Meiling with a forced smile, pushing the buns towards Miko.

Miko beamed cheezily. "Really? Oh, why _thank you_ Meiling, it's my favorite. You're so generous and caring."

"No problem. I mean, um… It's a pleasure.  You know how I _love_ seeing you smile."

Miko wrapped Meiling in a huge hug and accidentally knocked over the buns. "Oh shoot! All your hard work! I'm so sorry!" she cried. Meiling shrugged.  "Er… it was nothing, at least I made you happy, even for a moment. I'll make you a twice as many buns tomorrow!"

"Oh Meiling!  
"Oh Miko!"

Tomoyo brushed herself off and stood up.  "I'm sorry, it looks like you two would like to be…left alone…" She and Sakura both got up and walked away.  Miko and Meiling froze and watched them walk off in silence.  Finally Meiling pushed Miko away and started to clean up the spilled buns.

"Oh great.  Well, that worked just marvelously, didn't it.  You know, I wasn't confident at first, but now I am absolutely CONVINCED this plan of yours will work, Miko." grumbled Meiling.  

"Oh quit whining.  We've hardly even started the first stage."

"'First Stage'?? What's _that_ supposed to mean??"

Miko smirked.  "We haven't even gotten caught _doing_ anything yet.  This is only the tip of the iceberg!"

Meiling got up.  "You are a sick, sick person.  I don't want anything to do with you, I don't know why I even agreed in the first place."

"It was a joke!  Sit down, please?" pleaded Miko.  Meiling sighed deeply and sat down again.  "You better think of a new plan, Miko.  This is NOT going to work."

The wind blew softly between the trees, carrying a sweet, flowery scent.  Meiling looked across the field, where she saw Shaoran, walking on the stairs near the soccer goal and playing his recorder.  After a while, he sensed he was being watched and pocketed the instrument.  He searched the area until his eyes fell on her.  Meiling smiled and waved, and he nodded his head slightly in response. Then the boy started walking alone again up the stairs, and into the shadow of a tree.  He sat quietly underneath it, leaning against the trunk.  Meiling noticed with a twinge of resentment that he was watching Sakura and Tomoyo again.

"_He likes SAKURA, not YOU.  Just accept it, ok?_" said Miko, mimicking the same words Meiling had said to her earlier.  "Everybody likes Sakura." grumbled the Chinese girl. "What does _she_ have that _I_-…No, I'm not going to go there again.  I don't want to keep acting jealous. But I just can't understand why…" 

Miko shrugged.  "Well, they complement each other.  Opposites attract, as they say.  Shaoran is quiet and reserved, while Sakura is a lot more of a people person...except with me. I think she hates me for some reason." she chuckled.

Meiling rolled her eyes.  "In that case, Tomoyo should have been head over heels for you a LONG time ago.  You two are total opposites." Miko laughed loudly.  "Is that an insult?  Well, I think Shaoran and Sakura make a way better couple than Tomoyo and Sakura would."

"No way!  Sakura should be with Tomoyo!"

"You just want to have Shaoran to yourself!

"So?! You just want Tomoyo!"

"No I don't, you know you're my one true love Meiling!"

      "Shut up!  We're not playing that anymore!"

"But you're so beautiful!  Whenever I close my eyes, I see only you …"

      "You're such a freak, I swear!!"

"Hahahah!  Thank you darling."


	7. Chibi Maou, Chapter 7

ちびまおう - **たなか きみこ****：****dananaha!**

chibi maou – **tanaka kimiko:****＃****7**

****

      Weeks passed, but Kimiko still persisted in her quest for Tomoyo.  She continued to persuade Meiling to 'act' with her whenever her love was around; but to her distress, it seemed to be driving Tomoyo further and further away.  The other students had also noticed the new, strange behavior and were constantly gossiping and talking about them behind their backs.  Finally, Meiling had had enough.

"No more of this, Miko, _no more_!  If I get another nasty anonymous note in my desk, I'll pull out all my hair!  This is all your fault!!" she yelled.  Miko smiled nervously and held her skateboard behind herself as if to protect it from Meiling's fury.  "Don't get so upset… I know things haven't exactly worked according to our plan yet, but…"

"'TO _OUR_ PLAN'?! OUR PLAN??  HA! WHAT A JOKE!!  _You__'__re_ the one who made it up!! _You__'__re_ the one who keeps making me look stupid!  You you you!! Meiling cried, stomping her foot and pulling her ponytails in a fit.  The other girl sweatdropped and warily put out a hand to calm her friend down.  

"Meiling… don't get mad… I promise I won't ask you to do it again.  You're right, it's time for a change of plan."

"Finally, for ONCE you agree I'm right about something!  Well, you'd better start convincing people I'm NOT GAY or else I'll-I'll…Um…I don't know WHAT I'll do, but when I think of it it's gonna be something REALLY bad!!  Understand??" shouted Meiling, throttling the other girl violently.  When Miko finally pried Meiling's hands from her neck, she nodded and choked until her face went from purple back to its normal tanned color. "Ok, Ok.  I'll, uh…see to that." she replied with a gasp.

"Good." replied Meiling. "I'm going home now.  By _myself_.  I'd appreciate it if you kept your distance from me from now on.  At least until people understand it was all uh… a joke."

Miko watched her walk off.  She rubbed her neck.  "A joke.  Ha ha ha."

She dropped her board down on the ground and kicked off.  It felt good to have the wind in her face, and to feel the smooth obedience of the wheels turning with every small shift of her weight. Miko decided to head for a little skate park she knew in her neighborhood before going home.  

'Home is so depressing.'  she thought. 'Dad is always home late from working at that horrible smelly factory, and Onii-san is always locking himself in his room.  It creeps me out to think what he's doing there all the time... I'm sure I even saw a syringe in his trashcan once.  But I guess it's not my place to tell him how to live his life… I'm just a kid anyway…"

She leaned back and the tail of her board scraped the ground to an abrupt stop.  There was a dirty metal sign over the recently padlocked chain-link door.  She jiggled the lock a few times.

"Closed For Repairs"??  No way!" she leaned aside to see behind the sign.  All the ramps looked fine.  "They can't keep out 'MAD MIKO!'" she shouted defiantly.  Miko stuffed her board into her backpack and climbed the chain-link fence.  "Hello?  Anybody there?" The sofly whistling wind was her only reply.

She reached the top of the fence and fell off onto the other side.  "YATTA!!  I have the whole thing to myself!! Yaaaaa ANARCHYYYYY!!" she yelled triumphantly, running towards the nearest half pipe.

She practiced her run that she had been planning for almost 2 months. It was in preparation for the biggest competition in her life, and it was only about another month away.  The trouble was, she could do all the stunts individually, but when it came to doing them all at once with almost no break in between, she often got tired near the end and that was enough to make her loose her balance and screw up her finale.  Grind, jump, twist into the pipe, 3 jumps and grabs, flip onto the next ramp and turn around.  Up the next ramp and twist… 

"Ahhh!!" she yelled as she neglected to turn all the way and bounced on the hard concrete.  Her board landed on the ground a few seconds later.

"I should have brought my pads…But that's the price for looking cool…" she moaned, holding her badly scraped arms.  "Are you ok, _Sukebo_?" she asked her board with concern.

Suddenly, she heard a scream.  It sounded familiar… "That voice!  It sounded just like…Tomoyo!" Miko realized with a start.  Her injuries forgotten, she grabbed her board and her backpack and climbed to the top of the highest ramp to see where her damsel in distress might be.

"Please don't hurt me… I don't have my money with me." pleaded Tomoyo to the scruffy dark stranger who was gripping her thin, white wrist.  The man pulled her closed and laughed a terse, dry laugh.  "That's not what I'm interested in, sweety."  Tomoyo started to reach for her phone with her other hand, but the man grabbed it away from her.  "Who are you trying to call?  Your friend won't help you.  Just relax.  I-" 

But his sentence was broken off.  Tomoyo opened one eye as she felt the man's grip on her wrists loosen.  His eyes rolled up in his head and he slowly fell forward onto his face, his body limp on the ground.

She looked up with immense relief at her savior.

"Shaoran-kun!  Thank you so much for coming, I'm so grateful…" she stopped suddenly, looking from the boy's sheathed sword to the dirty man sprawled on the ground.

"You didn't… Is he..??" she began.  "No," replied Shaoran.  "I hit him in the back of the head. With the blunt edge.  He's only unconscious." He suddenly tensed up.  "Do you… hear that?" he asked.  Tomoyo listened.  "You mean that muted wailing noise?"  They both looked around.

Suddenly, they heard a loud clacking sound behind them, and then the scrape of wheels on pavement.  The wailing sound grew louder every moment!  Shaoran spun around and whipped out his sword; instinctively placing himself in front of Tomoyo.

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANZAAAAAAAAAIIII!!!" yelled Kimiko as she flew past a corner and spun around them.  Shaoran tried to turn himself to keep facing the monster on wheels, but she was spinning around him and Tomoyo in circles so fast that all he was doing was getting extremely dizzy.

Tomoyo's eyes widened in surprise.  "Kimiko-chan??"

      "I should have known!! This Chinese brat is nothing but a TROUBLEMAKER!" Miko sprang off her board and tackled Shaoran, who by now was so dizzy that the impact knocked him onto the ground. 

Wha…!?" he cried.

The skater girl punched him clumsily, but having not much training in fist fights she wasn't doing much damage.  "WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL, HUH!?" I know you're after Kinomoto, but that's no reason to start attacking TOMOYO-CHAN!! RAAH!!" she yelled furiously.  Shaoran regained his wits and gave Miko a kick to the stomach that sent her flying off him onto the ground near Tomoyo.  She shook herself off, got up and ran back at him.

"What…are…you…doing!?" he asked, in between blocking her powerful, but badly aimed blows. 

Tomoyo ran to Miko and tried to pull her away.  "You've misunderstood, Kimiko-chan!  Li-kin was only…"

"Tomoyo-chan, I'm afraid you don't know what you're dealing with.  Back off and let ME handle him!" replied the other girl, shrugging Tomoyo's hands away.  Shaoran was getting fed up with blocking.  He kicked Miko back again, not hard enough to hurt that much, but enough to give him time to catch his breath.  Miko panted heavily, holding her already scratched limbs. Her stomach ached and her ribs hurt again from the old soccer ball incident.  She growled in pain, but for the moment her soreness was too great to get up.  Shaoran stepped slowly towards her.

In a sudden movement, she grabbed her board from the pavement and ran with it at Shaoran, using it like a shield, intending to pin him against the wall.  He lifted his arm in a karate-chop action and swung it down at the last moment.  A sharp, horrible splintering sound filled the air.

Kimiko stared in horror at the two pieces of wood she held in her hands.  She made a small strangled sound, but no words could come out.

Shaoran remained frozen in his position.  Tomoyo took her chance and dashed between them, looking from one face to the other.  "Are you both alright?  Stop fighting, please! I can't let you get hurt over this misunderstanding!"

"You…killed my board.  You killed _Sukebo_! You KILLED HIM!!" cried Miko.  Shaoran looked scared and confused.  "I'm sorry… I mean…You were running at me with it!  It's just a piece of wood, anyway!" he replied defensively.

Tomoyo remembered how the very first day she had met Miko, the girl had made such a big deal about the board getting banged up.  This plank was very obviously special to her.  "Don't worry, Kimiko-chan," she said hurriedly, "there are many ways to repair it.  In fact, I'll pay for all the damage.  Don't blame Li-kun, he was only trying to defend himself.  He wasn't attacking me just now, he saved me from that man lying over there." she added, pointing to the aforementioned criminal. "Kimiko-chan… You're bleeding!" Tomoyo took the other girls arm and examined it.  "I have a handkerchief, here…" She looked through her bag.

Kimiko lowered her head in absolute mortification.  "I-…I'm so very sorry.  I'm so ashamed... I guess… I just jumped to conclusions, when I heard you scream, and saw Li-kun with that sword… I…I'd better go home now." And without a parting glance, she clutched the pieces of her dear _Sukebo_ to her chest and ran off as quickly as she had come.

Tomoyo called after her. "Kimiko-chan!  Wait…!"  But she was already gone.


	8. Chibi Maou, Chapter 8

????? - ??? ???: dahachiha!  
chibi maou - tanaka kimiko:#8  
  
Miko ran until her sides burned, but she couldn't stop. She imagined that she was running with two knifes stuck in her sides. In the distance, Miko saw a large looming shape. Was that...a...giant blob with a crown?? She slowed to a walk and found herself in front of the famous Penguin- King Park. The plastic bird was illuminated by the setting afternoon sun, casting a large shadow over her. The penguin glowed bright orange in the light. She sighed and sat in one of the swings, swinging back and forth until her pain began to ease. 'I'm screwed.' she muttered to herself. She watched the sun set, glimmering out from under a low cloud. Then, the sun died. The park's blazing reddish red hues faded to give way to blue and black colors. Miko got off the swings and shuffled over to the Penguin Slide, still clutching the pieces of her skateboard tightly to herself. 'I really don't feel like going home now...' she thought. She decided that she might as well sleep under the slide, since it was quite a long distance to go back home anyway. "Dad's gonna be mad... Well, he'll probably be home so late, he'll just eat and go to sleep. He won't notice this once." she concluded. She crouched down and looked into the niche under the slide. "Looks nice, ne Sukebo? Except...what's that huge black thing in the corner...?"  
  
A loud, low growl answered her question. Miko stiffened and slowly stepped back. "N-nice doggy..." she whispered apprehensively. "I'm gonna leave you alone now...good doggy..." The dog jumped up and scrambled onto its long legs. The dog's long sleek face was pulled back into a fierce snarl and the pricked pointed ears were flattened against its skull.  
  
"Oh jeez, I hate Dobermans..." she whined. Kimiko broke into a run again, with the dog tailing behind. She knew these kinds of dogs were bred for these kinds of chases, she couldn't keep it up much longer. Her bag felt like a dead weight dragging her down. Her legs were exhausted and heavy as lead. All of a sudden, she felt a sharp tug on one arm. The dog had gotten a hold of her sleeve. She took a piece of Sukebo and brought it against the dog's head with all her might. The animal whined and released her. "BAD DOG!" she yelled. "HELP! CRAZY DOG!"  
  
The Doberman regained its senses and jumped at her again. This time, it got a mouthful of wood, specifically, half of Sukebo. It proceeded in shredding it to pieces "Nooo!!" cried Kimiko. She took off her backpack and swung it at the animal. After two blows from the heavy books inside, the dog gave her one last snap of its jaws, and retreated into the shadows. The girl's shoulders sagged. With a heavy heart, she turned away from the mutilated half of her board, in the direction of her apartment, and made her way through the dark streets.  
  
She opened the door to her apartment as quietly as she could, taking her shoes off and putting them outside the door before coming in. She tiptoed across the carpet to her room, her shoulders hunched, and her head hanging low like a guilty animal. A loud snore told her her brother was already asleep. 'Hopefully, dad is too..' she thought. Her hand reached gingerly for the doorknob on her door, almost there...  
  
"Kimiko. Where the hell have you been?" said a stern, but tired voice behind her. "Do you know how worried I've been? I was going to call the police if ya didn't come home in 5 more minutes." it continued with the heavy Osaka-accent.  
  
"I'm sorry Dad... I didn't mean ta worry you, I just... I went to skate...and then...I went to a park...and...there was this dog..." she trailed off. Her dad sighed heavily. "Don't do it again, ya hear? It's too late for dis. And why weren't you wearing any freakin' pads? You're scratched ta pieces. One of these days you'll break yer head in half on one of those stupid boards. Go put some bandages on, they're in da cabinet. Tell your brother to help ya." And with that, her father sighed and got ready for bed. He had a long day of work ahead of him.  
  
"Tell Onii-san to help me. Yeah right. Why does dad always talk to me like I'm some baby?" sighed Miko as she stood on a chair to reach the top of the cabinet, and found a box of bandaids. She washed her cuts in the sink, wincing at the hot water and abrasive towel. After she had sufficiently plastered herself, she kicked open the door to her room and flopped onto her bed, not even bothering to undress or get under the covers. In her arms, she cradled the splintered remains of her best friend. Posters of her skater idols watched her from their frozen mid-air poses as she fell into a troubled sleep.  
  
The next morning, Kimiko was woken up by the thundering vibrations blasting from her brother's room. There was nothing but a thin plaster wall separating her head and his booming stereo. "No....too early for dis..." She griped. After tossing and turning a few times, she got up, grabbing her pillow on her way out. She took a deep breath and threw open his door.  
  
"ONII-SAN!!" she yelled, competing with the volume of his 'music" and blinking in the sudden light from his window. He was playing air guitar with his back to her, and didn't notice him. She launched her pillow at his head. "ONII-SAN!! TURN THAT DOWN! YOU KNOW THE LANDLORD WILL GET PISSED AT DAD!!" He turned around and gave her a dirty look. "Who said you could come in here? Go to school, brat." he scratched his goatee and turned back to his stereo. "Killer nightmare, singing to me, diiiiiee for me, LIVING DEAD GIRL!" he wailed to the music. Miko glowered at her brother, and turned to leave. She saw a poster of a scantily dressed blonde near the door. There was a word bubble penned in on top of her head; and inside were the words, 'Let's get dirty!' in her brother's handwriting. "Ewww..." she moaned, ripping it off and crumpling it into a ball. Her brother didn't notice, he was still headbanging on the other side of the room.  
  
Not surprisingly, she was late for class. 'Hoofing it', as she liked to call it, was much slower than going on wheels, and she had been dragging her feet the whole way. The teacher was about to give her another stern remark, but when he saw the pitiful look she gave him, he decided the lecture could wait. Tomoyo smiled reassuringly at her neighbor as she sat down, but Miko didn't look her way. She just sat in her chair and laid her head on her desk. When Terada-sensei turned around, Meiling poked her friend. "Hey. Hey! What's wrong?" she hissed. Kimiko shrugged her shoulders without lifting her head. During the lesson, students kept turning around to look at her, but she didn't move from her closed-up position. At lunchtime, she chose to stay in the classroom and eat alone, but her friends were worried and stayed back with her. Even Sakura got up her courage and tried to help. "Please tell us what's wrong, Kimiko-chan."  
"Did you fall and get hurt?" asked Rika. "You're covered with bandages." remarked Chiharu. "I've. Just. Had. A Bad. Day." Miko muttered through gritted teeth. Tomoyo looked at her sadly, and took Miko's darker hand into hers. "I'm very sorry to hear it, Kimiko- chan. But remember, we're your friends, always we'll be here for you." Kimiko looked up tenderly into Tomoyo's deep sapphire eyes, and for a moment, everything was perfect again. But then, Tomoyo's hand gently slipped away and the beautiful hallucination ended. "Whenever I feel unhappy, I find reading a good book always helps." piped Naoko. "I have plenty of good one here. As a matter of fact, I brought one today that you'd really like." she added, pulling it out of her bag. "It's about a boy who is brought up in a regular house with his horrible uncle and aunt, but he finds out he's actually a wizard. It's really popular in England and America, and they just finished translating it into Japanese. Would you like to borrow it?" she asked. Kimiko shook her head. "I'm not really into reading. Thanks anyway." Naoko's glasses fogged, but she nodded silently. Meiling offered her a homemade Chinese bun, but Miko said she wasn't hungry. "But you said they were your favorite!" protested Meiling jokingly. The skater girl sighed. "Ok, ok, gimme a bun. I'll take the book too. Whatever." she accepted, with a smile to her friends. Chiharu smirked. "And if that doesn't help, you can strangle Takashi. That usually makes me feel better." 


	9. Chibi Maou, Chapter 9

ちびまおう- **たなかきみこ：****dakyuha****！******

chibi maou – **tanaka**** kimiko：****＃****9**

****

Kimiko dropped her backpack onto the floor of her room with a thud and sat on the edge of her bed.  She looked over at her dresser and opened the first drawer.  She pushed aside the shirts and various garments at the top, and carefully uncovered an old, tattered photograph.

The picture portrayed a young family, standing proudly in front of a small run-down house.   A lively, handsome man of 24 had one hand firmly planted on his 10-year-old son's shoulder.   The son had an odd, bug-eyed expression about him, and his smile revealed some gaps in his teeth. The husband's other arm was wound around the neck of a attractive young woman.  Despite her smooth and youthful features, her expression was one of somebody who had seen many hardships.  She had one hand placed on her large belly.

Kimiko often tried to remember ever seeing that woman's face, but it was much too long ago for her to possibly recall.  Her mother had left them almost immediately after she was born.  Every year on her birthday, give or take a few weeks, Miko would receive a postcard from her mother wishing her a happy birthday.  The last postcard from Yokohama had been titled "Happy Birthday Himeko."  Kimiko didn't know why she bothered keeping the postcards, when they all said the same things.

_"I'm having a great time in such and such place.  Hope the family is well.  I hope (insert a misspelling of Kimiko's name) is doing good in school.  Keep your nose clean, sweety._

_Love, Kagumi."_

She didn't even understand why she kept wanting to her mother, when she hated her so much.  But now, she needed somebody to talk to, and it was her mother's DUTY to be there for her.  Only she wasn't.

Miko pulled a tack out of her cork bulletin board and held it hesitantly above her mother's face.  After a few moments, she tacked the picture to her board, the metal needle going straight through her mother's head. The woman's smile was still visible from underneath the plastic tack head.  Miko took out another tack and stuck it through her neck to cover up the smile.  And just for the heck of it, she stuck two or three tacks in her brother's head too.

Since she had nothing better to do, she opened her backpack and pulled out her extremely overdue homework.  "Better to do it now than never." she decided.  But as she took out her math book, she noticed a small sheet of paper at the bottom of her bag.  She pulled it out curiously and unfolded the slightly crumpled note.  The neat, sparkling green handwriting was written on cherry-scented stationary.

"Dearest Kimiko-chan,

I have resolved to write to you in a letter what my wavering courage does not permit me to speak to you personally.  From the moment we first met on your first day at Tomoeda, I was captivated.  I can't explain wherefore or for what reason, but since then there hasn't been a day where I don't think of you.  I realize that you will not return my feelings, and that is why I cannot disclose my identity, for your sake and mine.  I hope you will forgive me for the vagueness of this message, but I dare not give you too many hints to who I am.

Lately I have been troubled by your apparent "intrigue" with a certain Chinese classmate of ours, but she has strongly assured us that it was meant to be some kind of prank.  I don't understand the motives, but I nevertheless won't interfere with anything that might forfeit your personal happiness.  Recently you have seemed very low in spirits.  It hurts me to see you so unhappy.  Please remember that no matter what, I will always love you.  Were I to  die tomorrow, my devoted spirit would go on loving.  Be happy, Kimiko-chan,  'After a long rain, a rainbow always will shimmer through to lead you back to sunshine.' I hope someday I have the chance to be your rainbow, as you have been mine."

The note was signed by a small stamp of a cartoon kitten's face, hearts drawn in sparkling ink.

Kimiko fainted, the note fluttering out of her fingers as she fell with a muted 'thump' onto her bed.__

__


	10. Chibi Maou, Chapter 10

**ちびまおう ****- ****たなかきみこ**:**dajiuha!**

**chibi**** maou – tanaka kimiko**:#10

The pounding in her chest was echoed by the thudding of her feet on the pavement as Kimiko raced to class on Friday.  At last, after a sleepless, frustrating night of trying to envision her secret admirer, she was determined to find out who it was. Actually, she already had an idea who it was, and the thought made her frivolous with excitement! 

That day, class seemed to last ten times as long and twenty times as boring.  She was constantly spying on people out of the corner of her eye to see if anybody was watching her during the lesson, but to her disappointment and frustration everybody was acting perfectly normal. 

That lunch period she sat with Meiling and Shaoran, who she had been trying to be friendly to since the embarrassing incident the other day. As soon as Shaoran looked away, Miko lowered her voice to a hushed whisper. '

Hey, Meiling, guess what?" 

"What?" asked her friend. 

Miko grinned. "The plan worked! I got a love letter and I think it's from you-know-who!" 

The Chinese girl groaned.  "You're such a twerp.  I hate to be pessimistic, but it's probably meant to be a prank or something.  Don't take it seriously.  She doesn't like you." Miko rolled her eyes.  

"I bet if you got a love letter from Shaoran, you'd be going crazy right about now.  I'm sure it's from Tomoyo!  Get this… it was cherry-scented stationary!" 

"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Meiling in a sarcastic tone. 

"Sakura means CHERRY blossom.  She, um, likes cherry things.  Well, I mean, she…used to." 

Meiling sighed. "You're more pathetic than I thought!  Be realistic, Miko… somebody's just messing around with you." But the other girl refused to believe her.  The more Meiling insisted it couldn't be, the more it HAD to be true.  She was soon deeply submerged into her own world. 

During the rest of the day, Kimiko could tell there were words coming out of the teacher's mouth, but she wasn't listening to them.  She could hear only the voice of her angel echoing in her ears.  Meiling had told her that Tomoyo could sing, and very well at that, although Meiling had insisted that she was still better.  Miko hoped that she could hear Tomoyo sing sometime soon, even though she wasn't especially fond of traditional choir music.  'Then again, I guess not all of us are made to sing punk…' she thought with amusement.  

'I bet Tomoyo could make even the most boring old song worth listening to.' 

At the end of class, Miko nudged Tomoyo and asked her if they could have a private talk.  The dark haired girl nodded, and asked Sakura to please wait for her a moment before going home. 

"Shall we talk by the sakura trees?" suggested Tomoyo.  Kimiko agreed, and they walked there silently.  Tomoyo leaned gently against a trunk, and looked up at Miko.  The soft wind made the pink petals fly off and hover in the air, twirling in a quiet descent to the earth.  It seemed to Miko as if they were dancing to a song sung by the wind, a song that radiated from the angel before her.  

A sweet scent encircled them, and for a moment she was lost again, and forgot why she had even asked for the meeting.  All that mattered was that she was here with her true love under the sakura branches. Alone, with nobody here to tell her that it wasn't real.

Tomoyo broke Miko out of her reverie. "It's beautiful out here, isn't it? It's too bad the blossoms won't last much longer." She sighed pleasantly and smiled at Miko. "But that's not really why you wanted to talk to me, is it?" Miko's heart skipped a beat, and with trembling fingers, she pulled the green-inked note from her pocket. "You're right...Tomoyo, I... well... I wanted you to know that... Ok, I have this FRIEND. And, um, she wanted me to tell you something really important. In fact, it's er... something about you." stuttered Kimiko. In her mind she bashed her head against an imaginary wall. This wasn't what she had planned to say!! 

Tomoyo looked concerned, but her polite smile showed a hint of amusement. "Really? What important thing did she want to tell me?" she asked kindly. Kimiko blushed slightly and subconsciously tugged at her collar. 

"Well... see... my friend has...she...she really likes you." finished Miko lamely. "I mean, more than like, she..." she stammered. Miko felt dizzy and disoriented all of a sudden. 

Tomoyo tilted her head slightly and nodded in understanding. "I believe you mean the other meaning of like?" she replied, still smiling warmly. Kimiko took a sudden strong interest in an insect on the ground. "Um... yeah. And, uh... she got...this note..." Miko held it out with a shaky hand, "...and I wanted to... I mean, SHE wanted ME to...uh... ask you if you wrote it." 

"You're a very nice person to do such favors for your friends. Do I know this girl?" asked Tomoyo with a definite glint in her eye. Miko closed her eyes and gave herself up to the overpowering emotions flooding her heart. 

"Yes, you see her every day... She's always thinking about you. Even though you probably hardly think of her as more than an acquaintance, she wishes you two were so much more than that... She dreams about you at night, she fantasizes about proposing her love to you, but when she wakes up her illusions are shattered by reality. Every hour that she's near you passes in an instant, and every second when she's away from you lasts forever. It's driving her crazy, it's almost like she doesn't know herself any more. And there's nobody who understands, nobody who helps her to keep hoping. Even at home, she's all alone. She's just...drowning in her love for you, Tomoyo-chan. It's a beautiful feeling, but it's killing her at the same time..." replied Miko, feeling very out of breath. 

Tomoyo's eyes had been running back and forth across the letter during this long monologue. Her smile had faded and her deep blue eyes met with Miko's. "I'm very sorry Kimiko-chan... but...I'm afraid I didn't write this letter." There was no reply. "Please don't take it too hard. We're still good friends. I'll always be here to talk to you about your problems if you want. You don't have to be alone." The dark haired girl's eyes were filled with sadness and sympathy. 

She searched Miko's unreadable expression. "You're far away, Kimiko-chan. Where are you?" 

Kimiko's voice came out in a hoarse whisper. "In a world that's...disappearing, I'm afraid."


	11. Chibi Maou, Chapter 11

div class=Section1span lang=JA style='font-family:"MS Mincho";mso-fareast-language:JA'ちびまおう /spanspan style='font-family:"MS Mincho"'- **/spanspan lang=JA style='font-family:"MS Mincho";mso-fareast-language:JA'****たなかきみこ/spanspan style='font-family:"MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language:JA':span class=SpellEjuichiban**/span****!**u1:p/u1:p/spanspan style='font-family:"MS Mincho"'o:p/o:p/span**

span class=SpellEspan class=GramEspan style='font-family:"MS Mincho";mso-fareast-language:JA'chibi/span/span/spanspan style='font-family:"MS Mincho";mso-fareast-language:JA' span class=SpellEmaou/span – **span class=SpellE****tanaka****/span**** kimiko/spanspan style='font-family: "MS Mincho";mso-fareast-language:JA':#11**

u1:p/u1:p/spanspan style='font-family:"MS Mincho"'o:p/o:p/span

"When the violence

Causes silence

Who are we mistaking

May you see

It's not me,

It's not my

Family

In your head,

In your head,

They're still fighting..." the song repeated for the 27th time in Kimiko's ears.  Her eyes were glazed, red, a bit puffy.  Her limbs draped across her bed like a limp rag doll.  The last three days had totally drained the life out of her.  

In her hands was the green-inked letter.  She stared at mysterious signature, the black kitten stamp.  Thoughts of Tomoyo flashed through her mind.  She imagined Tomoyo, pining away too for somebody who was too daft to realize the extent her devotion.  

'At least Tomoyo still manages to do it elegantly,' she thought peevishly.

"span style='font-family:"MS Mincho"'o:p/o:p/spanWhat's in your heeeeead,

In your heeeeead,

Zombie, Zombie,

Zo-ombi-e e-e

In your heeeeead,

In your heeeeead,

Zombie, Zombie,

Zo-ombi-e e-e..." Enfin she got annoyed with the song and yanked the earplugs out of her ears with a jerk that left them ringing.  She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair.  'I can't just let myself fall apart.' she scolded herself.  'What would Tomoyo-chan think?'  Miko grabbed the splintered piece of wood off her dresser.  "I have to get myself together, Sukebo!  So, wadda we gonna do?"  She skater girl looked around her room.  Her eyes fell upon the book Naoko had lent her.  It was still sitting in the same place she had left it they day she received it, unopened.  It was clearly begging to be read.  

Miko rolled her eyes.  "Give me a break, Sukebo.  I just took that book to make her feel better.  You should have seen the look she gave me when I told her I don't like reading."   She picked up the book anyway, handling it as one would a smelly old banana peel.  "I mean, look at this thing, it's as fat as a freakin' dictionary or something!  Wadda I look like, Einstein?"  She looked at her board cynically as if she were genuinely expecting it to reply.  She flipped the pages of the book a few times, and when she got bored of that, hit herself on the head with it.  In her fit of dizziness, she recognized some of the writing on the cover.  

"Harry Potter.  Hey, I saw that movie!  Pretty lame.  But maybe the book is better..." she said, opening the book. Miko plopped herself into a more comfortable position on her bed with her back against the wall and scanned the page.  And suddenly, what she saw froze her and she uttered a sharp gasp...

In the meantime, Naoko was staying up late, writing at her desk. She wore blue nightgown, which matched the blue bow she was wearing in her hair.  As usual with the last month or so, she had been having trouble sleeping, to the point that her mother was trying to stuff her with vitamin pills all the time.  

Naoko knew her mother was only being over-protective as usual, but she didn't dare explain the real reason for her troubled nights.  She carefully cleaned her green-inked fountain pen and placed it down on her desk.  The ink on the letter was still fresh and wet, so she blew on it gently to dry it faster.  Then she took out a small, black, kitten stamp, pressed it into the inkpad, and stamped the signature firmly onto the bottom of the letter.

Dearest Kimiko,

I noticed that you were acting a bit wary around other students today, hopefully that means you received my first letter.  I hope you aren't angry with me for not telling you who I am. I promise when the time is right I will confess my love to you in person.

You seemed to be very withdrawn when you headed off to go home.  If there is anything troubling you, ask your friends at school, I will do my best to help you.  And if all else fails... why don't you try reading a good book?  I've heard it works wonders.

Forever yours,

=^._.^=

Satisfied, she left it at her desk for the moment, walked through her spacious, western-style room, and looked through her window.  A bright flash lit up the sky momentarily, followed by a crashing thunderclap.  "Still heavy rain." she murmured, watching the streaks of rain roll and trickle down the glass.  A shimmering tear ran down one of her cheeks too.  "But some day...a rainbow must shine through..." She pulled off her spectacles and wiped the tears away determinedly. 

She snuggled into her flannel sheets and down comforter, the warmth and softness comforted her greatly.  With a soft sigh, she closed her tired eyes and began to nod off.  Outside, the wind howled angrily and whipped the icy rain against her window in sharp taps.  The sound of the storm made her feel safe and sheltered in her quiet, warm room.

Her window creaked and groaned and made a racket. Bang, scratch, scratch.

Naoko stirred, turned around and lay on her side.

Thump, thump, thump.

She buried her face into her pillow.  "It's probably a tree branch hitting the window…" she muttered sleepily.

The pounding and scratching and creaking got louder.  

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!  

Naoko's eyes snapped open. "Wait a second!  I don't have any trees outside my house!" she grabbed her glasses off her dresser and fumbled to put them on.  "What if it's… a GHOST!"

The window suddenly blew open, flooding the room with cold night air and rain.  Her room lit up in an enormous flash of light, followed by a deafening thunderclap.  She peeked gleefully out from under the covers, hoping to get a glimpse of a phantom, monster, or at least an alien.  After waiting a few seconds, Naoko finally threw off her wonderful warm covers and got in exasperation.  

"Stupid window.  Must have been unloc-" she started.  Her eyes widened and she almost tripped in her rush to the window.  She gripped the sill tightly with both hands and stared downward.

"Nice weather we're having, innit?" said a familiar Osaka-accented voice.  "I'm sorry to bother you so late, but... may I please come in?  I'm afraid of letting go of this thing…it's really slippery…" Miko grinned up at Naoko as she clung tightly to the drainpipe going up the side of the house.  She had climbed up two floors.

Naoko's voice finally came back to her.  "I-I...Of course!!  Here, give me your hand..." she stuttered, pulling the drenched, shivering Miko into her room.  Naoko quickly closed and locked the window, then turned back to the wet, soggy girl standing before her and dripping all over the oriental rug.  "Kimiko-chan... what on earth...!?  Oh my, you're soaked to the bone...  Come on, I'll find you something dry to wear first..." 

Miko allowed herself to be lead to the closet, and then quietly snuck through a hall to a large tiled bathroom, where she was handed a dry pair of cotton pajamas and a large fuzzy towel.  "Change here and come back to my room when you're done.  You can leave your wet clothes to dry on that rack for now." ordered Naoko with a slight blush.  "Please be careful not to wake my parents." she added, shutting the door quietly.  

Miko blinked at the closed door for a few seconds, then shrugged her shoulders and complied.  Before she left the bathroom, however, she couldn't resist opening some of the many colored and oddly shaped bottles she found on the ceramic counter.  Strong as her curiosity for these absurd chemicals was, however, she felt herself much more strongly pulled back to Naoko's room.  She opened the door quietly, and found Naoko kneeling on her bed, pretending to read.  Naoko looked up when the other girl came in, and for the second time that night, a blush painted her cheeks.

"So, how do I look?" asked Miko, twirling around in her purple pajama, causing Naoko to giggle.  "You look so kawaii!  You know, I've never seen you wear anything but your school uniform."  

Miko smirked.  "Yeah, I know I look really funny when I wear girl's clothes, don't I?"  She sat down on the edge of the bed and gave Naoko a quizzical look.  "Aren't you going to ask me why I climbed up the drainpipe in the middle of a monsoon and started banging on your window?"  Naoko closed her book and set it aside with a shaky sigh.  "I was just about to get to that," she replied.  "All right.  Why on earth did you climb up the drainpipe in the middle of a monsoon and start banging on my window?"

Miko pulled a slightly damp book out from behind her back.  "I wrapped it up in my jacket when I was climbing up your window so it wouldn't get wet, but I think it did anyway.  I'm sorry."  Naoko held her breath and stared at the book.  "Harry Potter... the one I lent you a few days ago."  Miko nodded, and opened the book to the first page.  "I started to read it tonight, and I noticed something really interesting..."

Kimiko's finger pointed to a small stamp on the white paper.  It was a black kitten face.  Underneath, it said Naoko's full name and address.  

Naoko's eyes brimmed with happy tears behind her twinkling glasses.  "So you did read it.  I was wondering if you would find the clue... I hoped you would come, but I never thought it would be so soon.   I thought you were a ghost, but this is even better!" she laughed, tears streaming down her face.  Miko brought a hand up to the other girl's wet cheek and wiped the tears away slowly.  

"I'm sorry, Naoko...  I wasn't thinking straight.  Not only tonight, but ever since I met Tomoyo-chan.  I have to be honest with you, I was spending so much time worshipping her, I didn't even notice you... She was already in love with someone else, and I knew it.  I was lying to myself, Naoko. You deserve somebody better than that.  Will you please forgive me?" she asked sofly, putting her hand behind Naoko's head and entwining her fingers in her hair, pulling her closer into an embrace.  Naoko let herself melt into Miko's arms and leaned her head on her shoulder.  "Of course I will." she whispered.  

She pulled her head up slowly and looked at Miko with a wry smile.  "Did you say Tomoyo-chan?"  Miko smiled nervously.  "Is that so weird that I should like her?"  Naoko shook her head with a laugh.  "No, it's not that.  It's just a bit...odd.  Now wait, let me finish..." she said quickly at the look on Miko's face.  "There's something you don't know about Tomoyo and I.  In fact, I don't think anybody knows except us two," she smiled and watched as Miko's curiosity grew.

"So, come on, what's the big secret then?" prodded the impatient Miko.  "Don't tell me you both used to be 'together', or I'm leaving right now."  Naoko's eyes widened.  "H-how did you know?" she gasped. "Did Tomoyo tell you?"  Miko fell off the bed with a crash.  

"WHAT!" she cried, jumping up and leaping onto the bed again.  "I was just KIDDIN'!"

"Shhhh!!" hushed Naoko, covering Miko's mouth.  "My parents will hear!" She glanced sideways and held her breath, listening.  

After a few moments of silence, she let out a long, relived sigh and released Miko.  "Yes, it's true... so I can understand perfectly why you would fall for her.  She really does seem perfect, doesn't she?" said Naoko, with a trace of sorrow.  "It was the first time for both of us...  But first loves usually don't become fairy tales, do they?"  Miko nodded.  "True that.  What happened between you two anyway?"

Naoko shrugged her slight shoulders.  "We broke up right after she met Sakura-chan.  We both agreed that we had been growing apart recently, and that it would be best to go our own ways.  She was always very polite about it, but I could tell she wasn't really too interested in ghosts or the supernatural, like I was.  She was a bit too down-to-earth, if you know what I mean.  But she can be amazingly creative at times.  Often she asked me to model for her, she would make the most beautiful costumes you've ever seen!  They were so original, they came in every shape, color and style... and there were so many!  She never ran out of ideas for them.  Tomoyo didn't even know why she was making them, but somehow the inspiration came to her.  She said it was 'almost like magic.'  I wonder what she does with all of them now..." pondered Naoko, holding her chin.

Miko took the other girl's hand into hers.  "Naoko, thank you so much for lending me that book.  I've only read the title page, and already I'm feeling so much better." she said with a wide grin.  Naoko laughed.  "I can lend you plenty more, but only if you promise to use the door instead of the window next time.  It's very romantic of you, but one of these days the storm drain will just peel off our wall while you're hanging onto it."

"Naoko, I want to lend you something too." said Miko seriously, looking deeply into Naoko's eyes.  The other girl gazed back. "What would that be?" Miko placed one hand on the small of the other girl's back and caressed her neck with the other.  She leaned forward, closed her eyes, and gave Naoko a passionate kiss.

Miko pulled away slowly, her arms still wrapped around Naoko, whose glasses were totally fogged.  Kimiko smiled and gently lifted them away to see Naoko's bright red face. "Tomato-face." she muttered with a laugh, causing Naoko's blush to darken even more.  

Naoko pulled her hair behind her ears subconsciously. "I don't know whether I like 'Nerd-Girl' better. If you call me names, I'll call you something really embarrassing too." She smiled to herself and turned away from the other girl, pretending to sulk angrily. Kimiko apologized profusely, but Naoko shook her head and wouldn't look at her.  "What will you call me?" asked Kimiko at last.  "I'm said I'm sorry! Call me anything you want!"  At last Naoko turned around with an uncharacteristic smirk and rubbed her hands together mischievously.  "Well, alright… How about…Pootie Pie!"

      "Pootie Pie!?"

Naoko laughed at the other girl's incredulous expression. "Or Sugar Booger Woogums!"

      "Sugar Boo- what??" exclaimed Kimiko in frustration.

"Aaww, you don't like that name, Cuddly Wuddly Hunny Bunny??"

Kimiko squashed a pillow onto her head and collapsed.  "Anything but that!" Naoko slowly sat up and lay down on her stomach next to the other girl.  She pulled the pillow away gently and tried not to laugh at Kimiko's scrunched up, comical face.  "Naoko... I give up.  At least don't call me any of those in public, ok?" 

Naoko nodded and stroked Kimiko's hair with her slender fingers.  "It will be our little secret." she said with a gentle smile, as their lips met again.  The kiss lasted longer than their first, and when at last they broke apart both girls were breathless. 

Miko's head spun and she felt as light as a bubble.  There was nobody in the whole universe except her and her love. "You're a good kisser..." murmured Kimiko. 

"Tomoyo is a good teacher," the other girl teased, nuzzling Kimiko's neck.  "Besides, you don't really think I only read ghost stories all the time, do you?"  

Kimiko groaned.  "You're scaring me.  I'm supposed to be the wild erratic one here; you're supposed to be the innocent, untainted one."  

      "I'm sorry, I forgot for a moment," said Naoko.  "I'll try to act chaste again now."  She scooted back to the top of her bed and pulled the blankets up, covering herself.  She waited for Kimiko to do the same, but when she saw the other girl's uneasiness, she patted the pillow next to her in invitation.  "Come on, I won't bite."  she said, smiling sweetly.  Kimiko's normally reckless and eager mood had vanished at this frightening situation, she was looking from Naoko to the window as if she intended to leap out of the room and back into the storm. 

"I know," exclaimed Naoko, "...Why don't we read something before we sleep?  Can you bring the Harry Potter book here?" Kimiko hesitantly fetched the still slightly soggy book and got under the covers.  Naoko snuggled her and held the book.  "Will you do voices for all the different people?  When I was a kid my dad would read to me like that, it was so cute!"  Kimiko nodded, smiled nervously, and cleared her throat.  "Chapter One..."

THE END


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